Candishataka 3

3

sā śivā bhagavatī vaḥ śivaṃ kalyāṇaṃ karotu . sā kā . ityajñānādeva
yasyāścaraṇo mahiṣasyāsūnprāṇānahārṣīt . kiṃbhūtaścaraṇaḥ . bindhyādibuddhyā
asmannivāso'yaṃ vindhyaparvata iti dhiyā skandhe arthānmahiṣasya āvṛto
nyastaḥ . kiṃbhūte ca skandhe . vindhyādribuddhyā nikaṣati kaṇḍūtyapanātyartha
nikaṣaṇa kurvati . śyāmatvāddevīcaraṇasya tasminmahiṣaskandhasyāpi vindhyādre bhramo jātaḥ . ata eva gharṣaṇaṃ karoti . iti kim . mahati nyakkṛtovati
tiraskṛtasamudraghoṣe huṃkāre arthānmahiṣasya nūpurasya śiñjitairjite sati skandhanikaṣaṇenaiva nūpuradhvaniḥ samutpannaḥ . huṃkāreṇa mahiṣo'yamiti jñāna
śakyaḥ . huṃkārasya nūpuraśiñjatatiraskṛtatvāt . anyacca śliṣyacchṛṅgapi
kṣaradasṛji galadrudhire [arthāddevyāścaraṇe] nijālaktakabhrāntibhāji svadavakarasabhramayukte sati . evamupanyastahetutrayādbhrāntiḥ samutpannā ..
jāhnavyā yā na jātānunayaparaharakṣiptayā kṣālayantyā
nūnaṃ no nūpureṇa glapitaśaśirucā jyotsnayā vā nakhānām .
tāṃ śobhāmādadhānā jayati navamivālaktakaṃ pīḍayitvā
pādenaiva kṣipantī mahiṣamasurasādānaniṣkāryamāryā .. 3 ..

May that blessed Śivā grant you (vaḥ) auspicious blessing (śivam = kalyāṇam). Who is she? She whose foot stole the life-breaths of Mahiṣa, as if unwittingly. What kind of foot? Placed (āvṛtaḥ = nyastaḥ) upon the shoulder—that is, of Mahiṣa—with the thought of the Vindhya mountain, thinking, "This is our dwelling, Mount Vindhya." And on what kind of shoulder? On his shoulder as he rubbed against it, thinking it the Vindhya mountain, rubbing it to relieve an itch. Because the Goddess's foot was dark, the delusion arose in Mahiṣa's shoulder too that it was Mount Vindhya, and so he rubbed against it. And how [did this happen unwittingly]? Because when his great bellow (huṃkāra)—surpassing the roar of the ocean—was drowned out by the tinkling of her anklet; indeed, the sound of the anklet arose just from rubbing his shoulder. He could have been recognized as a buffalo by his bellow, but the bellow was eclipsed by the tinkling of the anklet. Moreover, even when blood flowed from the wound made by his clinging horn, it was mistaken for her own lac dye, being confused with her red foot-dye. Thus, the delusion arose from these three mentioned causes.

Never produced by the river Jāhnavī washing it, cast forward by Hara devoted to appeasing her,
and surely not by her anklet, whose brilliance dims the moon, nor by the moonlight of her claws,
her foot attained that splendor: victorious is Āryā, who with her foot alone
crushes Mahiṣa like fresh lac dye and casts him away, useless once his life-sap has been drained! (3)